Spotify’s share is roughly one-third of the revenue generated from subscription fees and advertising on music for the Free tier.
And this is nothing new. Retailers have always taken a fee for their services — historically an even higher cut. For example, near the height of the CD era, the retailer carried somewhere between 35% and 40% of the CD or cassette sold.
Our share is reinvested into building tools and services for artists, maintaining a quality product for listeners, and attracting more users to grow revenue from. Investment includes everything from cloud computing and credit card fees to product updates and new technologies, from developing playlists and experimenting with new ways for fans to engage with your music to building tools and resources to help guide you through the process.